Poker card game

ABSTRACT

A community-style poker game is played by dealing each player two cards face-down followed by a community card face up. A first round of bets is solicited, and then two more community cards are dealt, face up. A second betting round is conducted, and then a final third card is dealt face-down to each player. A third and final betting round is solicited from the players, following which a game decision is reached by evaluating the respective hands considering the three community cards and each players&#39; three private cards to determine the best five-card poker hand out of the six cards available to each player. Because each player that remains in the game can expect to receive the third and final card face down, players will be drawn to remain in the game at least thorough the second betting round with the hope that the third and final card will secure a victory.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.60/929,365 filed Jun. 25, 2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to card games, and is more particularlyconcerned with community-type poker card games that involve betting.

2. Related Art

Poker card games are well known in the art. However, for many poker cardgames, the rules are complicated, thus making the game inaccessible tonew players. Also, many poker players, and especially new players, findit difficult to put together a reasonable hand when their hand onlyconsists of five cards, as is the case for many traditional poker games.Further, many players, especially new players, often have difficulty inevaluating their hands, and prospects for winning, compared to those oftheir opponents, when, as in most conventional poker games, most or allof the cards in the hands of their opponents are hidden.

The game known as Texas Hold'Em style poker has become very popular. Itis one example of a community-type of poker in which players are dealtan incomplete hand of face-down cards, and then a number of face-up“community” cards are dealt to the center of the table, each of whichcan be used by one or more of the players to make a 5-card hand.

In casual play of poker games, the right to deal a hand typicallyrotates among the players and is marked by a token, sometimes called a‘dealer’ button or “buck.” In a casino, a house dealer handles the cardsfor each hand, but the button (typically a white plastic disk) isrotated clockwise among the players to indicate a nominal dealer todetermine the order of betting. One or more players are usually requiredto make forced bets, usually either an ante or a blind bet (sometimesboth). The dealer shuffles the cards, cuts, and deals the appropriatenumber of cards to the players one at a time. Cards may be dealt eitherface-up or face-down, depending on the variant of poker being played.After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting roundsbegins. Between rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often bybeing dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. At theend of each round, all bets are gathered into the central pot. At anytime during a betting round, if one player bets and no opponents chooseto “call” (match) the bet and instead “fold,” the hand ends immediately,the bettor is awarded the pot, no cards are required to be shown, andthe next hand begins. This is what makes bluffing possible. Bluffing isa primary feature of poker, one that distinguishes it from other vyinggames and from other games that make use of poker hand rankings. At theend of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there isa showdown, in which the players reveal their previously hidden cardsand evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to thepoker variant being played wins the pot. A poker hand consists of fivecards, but in some variants a player has more than five to choose from.

Despite the widespread popularity of community-type poker games likeTexas Hold'Em, there remains a desire to improve the speed at whichgames can be played. Faster games increase player excitement andprofitability to casino and tournament proprietors. However, anyalteration of the game play method has the potential to destroy thequalities that make the game exciting and popular. Another disadvantageof Texas Hold'Em poker is that players dealt poor cards are likely tofold, or withdraw, prior to the end of the game. As a result, the gameis less enjoyable for such players and the winnings do not grow aslarge. Furthermore, there is a continual thirst for games of increasedstrategy. Poker players are renowned for the strategy technique known asbluffing. Any opportunity to increase strategy options and theopportunity to bluff more often within a poker-style card game will bewelcomed within the card game playing community, provided of course thatthe overall card game appeals to a wide cross-section of poker players.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved poker card game whichobviates the above difficulties and enables faster game play, keepsplayers engaged longer, and increases strategy opportunities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide animproved poker card game in which players have a better chance ofassembling a favorable hand and of evaluating their prospects forwinning the game.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, a method forplaying a community-style poker card game comprised the steps of:providing a plurality of players; contributing an ante of money to awinnings pot; providing a standard deck of 52 playing cards; dealingeach player respective first and second cards face-down; allowing eachplayer to privately inspect the face value of their first and secondcards; dealing a first community card face up; soliciting a first betdecision from each player; dealing second and third community cards faceup; soliciting a second bet decision from each player; dealing eachplayer a third card face-down; allowing each player to privately inspectthe face of their third card; soliciting a third bet decision from eachplayer; and then selecting a winning player by comparing each player'scards together with the community cards according to the conventionalpoker rules and identifying the player in possession of the bestfive-card hand.

An advantage of the present invention is that the subject poker cardgame allows each player to better evaluate the contents of the opposingplayers' hands. Another advantage of the present poker card game is thatadditional cards are provided, thus facilitating reception by a playerof a hand for which the player has a reasonable prospect of winning thegame. More specifically, each player that remains in the game can expectto receive a third card (i.e., sixth card overall) face down. The effectof this expectation is that players will be drawn to remain in the gameso as to receive that final card which may improve their hand and resultin a favorable game decision. And the fact that the final card is dealteach player face down effectively cooperates with any variety ofbluffing strategy. Thus, by incentivizing each player to remain engagedin the game at least thorough the second betting round, the winnings potwill grow larger and all players will receive greater satisfaction fromgame play.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from careful reading of the detailed description providedherein, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more readily appreciated when considered in connection with thefollowing detailed description and appended drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view of a hand of a player of a poker card game inaccordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, prior to afirst betting round of the game;

FIG. 2 is a view of a hand of a player of the poker card game after thefirst betting round; and

FIG. 3 is a view of a hand of a player of the poker card game shown inFIG. 1 after a second betting round.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the Figures, wherein like numerals indicate like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views,

With reference to the annexed drawings the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention will be herein described for indicative purpose and byno means as of limitation.

This invention relates to a community-style poker game of cards, whereina game decision is based on the traditional rules of poker. For theavoidance of doubt, poker hands are evaluated on the best five cardsavailable to each player, even when a hand consists of more than fivecards. Individual cards are ranked A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3,2, A. Hand rankings descend in priority from Straight Flush,Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair,One Pair, and High Card. All other traditional poker rules apply equallyin this invention.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which shows a hand, shown generally as10, of a player of a poker card game in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention, prior to a first betting round for the game. Thegame commences with the designation of one player thereof as a dealerfor the hand 10. A player is also designated to contribute an ante, i.e.an amount of money required from each player to receive a hand 10.Preferably, one player, for example, the player immediately to the leftof the dealer, contributes the ante for all players for a given hand 10.Thus, if the ante for each player is 5 dollars and there are fiveplayers, then the player designated for the ante would contribute 25dollars to a pot of cash used to provide winnings for the game. For thenext hand 10, a different player is designated to contribute the ante.The dealer and the player designated for contributing the ante could betracked, for example, by using a token, not shown, which could becirculated, prior to each hand 10, to a player adjacent the playerdesignated for contributing the ante during the previous hand 10, theplayer having the token being designated as the player for contributingthe ante and another player adjacent thereto being designated as thedealer. Alternately, each player could individually contribute their ownante at the beginning of each hand 10. It should be noted that theplayer designated as the dealer typically represents a venue, such as acasino, in which the game is played and which receives a percentage or acommission for each hand 10 played.

Once the ante has been contributed, the dealer deals two respectivecards 14 to each player, followed immediately by one community card thatis shared by all players. The two respective cards 14 dealt to eachplayer combined with the shared community card initially forming therespective hand 10 thereof. The respective hand 10 of the player isinitially dealt to the player with two respective face-down, or hidden,cards 14 a, 14 b, in which the face side 16 of the card 14, having thevalue thereof inscribed thereupon, is dealt facing the table.Accordingly, the value of the face-down cards 14 a, 14 b is not shown tothe other players. The player receiving the face-down cards 14 a, 14 bcan, however, look at the face side 16, if desired. The third respectivecard 14 c, is a community card 14 c, also referred to as an “up” card,and is dealt to the player with the face side 16 thereof facing awayfrom the table. Accordingly the value of the “up” card 14 c is visibleto all players.

Once all of the players have received the respective first three cards14 a, 14 b, 14 c for their hands 10, a first betting round occurs. Theoptions for each player in the betting round are the same as for aconventional poker game, i.e. each player may, for example, bet, call,raise, fold, etc. Typically, the player situated adjacently to the leftof the dealer commences the first betting round, and each player thenfollows clockwise around the table until all players have folded orcalled their last bet.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2. After the first betting round iscompleted, the dealer deals another two respective “up” cards 14 d, 14e, which also are community cards shared by all players. Optionally,prior to dealing the “up” cards 14 d, 14 e, the dealer may also burn acard 14, i.e. discard a card 14 on the top of the deck of cards 14 usedfor the game 12 by placing the card 14 on a discard pile in which allfolded hands 10 and discarded cards 14 are placed. Accordingly, eachplayer now has 5 respective cards 14, namely two respective face-downcards 14 a, 14 b, and three respective “up” cards 14 c, 14 d, 14 e, inthe player's respective hand 10.

Once the community cards 14 d, 14 e have been dealt, a second bettinground occurs. Like the first betting round, the second betting round ispreferably, but not compulsorily, commenced by a player immediatelyadjacent the dealer and to the left thereof and who may either bet,check, or fold. The betting round then continues clockwise around thetable until all players remaining have checked, folded, or called thelast bet.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3. After the second betting round iscompleted, the dealer deals a third face down card 14 f, also referredto as a down-and-dirty card 14 f, to each player. Thus, the respectivehand 10 for each player now contains three respective face-down cards 14a, 14 b, 14 f and three “up” cards 14 c, 14 d, 14 e. Optionally, thedealer may also burn another card 14. After each player receives theirrespective third card 14 f, a third betting round is undertaken, in thesame fashion as the second betting round.

Once the third round is complete, the last player to place a bet mustshow his respective hand 10 by turning over all of the face-down cards14 a, 14 b, 14 f. All other players who called the final bet made by thelast player and who have better respective hands 10 than the last playerto place a bet, according to conventional poker rules, must also showtheir respective hands 10. However, a player who called the final betmade by the last player and who does not have a better hand than thelast player, may elect to muck their respective hand 10 by discarding iton to the discard pile without showing the respective face-down cards 14a, 14 b, 14 f. Hands 10 are evaluated relative one another according toconventional poker rules by combining two or three of their face-downcards 14 a, 14 b, 14 f with two or three “up” cards 14 c, 14 d, 14 e tocreate the best combination possible of five cards 14. The winner of thegame, i.e. the player entitled to claim the pot or winnings therefrom,is the player having the best combination of five cards 14, based onconventional poker rules, using any combination of the player's threeface-down cards 14 a, 14 b, 14 f and the three “up” cards 14 c, 14 d, 14e (best 5 out of 6). As the face side 16 of three of the cards 14, i.e.“up” cards 14 c, 14 d, 14 e, is visible, players are able to,advantageously, evaluate their chances of success versus other playersmore easily than in conventional poker games.

Further, since the hands 10 are evaluated on the basis of the bestcombination of five out of six cards 14, namely the three up cards 14 c,14 d, 14 e combined with three of the face-down cards 14 a, 14 b, 14 f,the prospects of a player putting together a reasonably strong hand 10are increased.

In appropriate settings, a dealer can be used to represent the house(casino) which in turn receives either a percentage or a commission pergame played.

The foregoing invention has been described in accordance with therelevant legal standards, thus the description is exemplary rather thanlimiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosedembodiment may become apparent to those skilled in the art and fallwithin the scope of the invention. Accordingly the scope of legalprotection afforded this invention can only be determined by studyingthe following claims.

1. A method for playing a community-style poker card game comprising thesteps of: providing a plurality of players; contributing an ante ofmoney to a winnings pot; providing a standard deck of 52 playing cardsarranged in the traditional maimer with faces designated 2-10, J, Q, K,A each in four suits; dealing each player respective first and secondcards face-down; allowing each player to privately inspect the facevalue of their respective first and second cards; dealing a firstcommunity card face up; soliciting a first bet decision from eachplayer, wherein a bet decision is selected from the group consisting of:bet, check, call, raise and fold; dealing second and third communitycards face up; soliciting a second bet decision from each player;dealing each player a respective third card face-down; allowing eachplayer to privately inspect the face of their respective third card;soliciting a third bet decision from each player; selecting a winningplayer by comparing each player's respective first, second and thirdcard together with the first, second and third community cards accordingto the conventional poker rules and identifying therefrom the player inpossession of the best five-card hand.
 2. The method of claim 1 furtherincluding the step of designating a dealer from among one of theplayers.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of contributing anante includes requiring a single player to contribute the entire anteamount for all players.
 4. The method of claim 1 further including thestep of discarding a card from the top of the deck of cards prior tosaid step of dealing the second and third community cards.
 5. The methodof claim 1 further including the step of discarding a card from the topof the deck of cards prior to said step of dealing each player a thirdcard face-down.